A Small Bump in the Road, or Why I am Pouting

Can we talk here? I am glad this week is about over. My VA and I have been grinding our teeth over my move to a new email marketing software. It was motivated by a desire for 1 (only ONE!) function that was really important for me that I could not get with my other email marketing service. And I knew going into this transition that there were some functions I was giving up that were not as critical, but I didn’t know how much I was going to miss my other software. I just cut over today, and I am already almost sorry.

The blame for my feelings goes to being just a little more technical than is good for me. All my life I have been a problem solver. I analyze things and wonder why they are done the way they are. I see better solutions everywhere. So I have been shaking my head and scowling and possibly saying a few “salty” words every time another annoying function, or lack of function, raised it’s head. Yes, there are software solutions that are a much better fit for my needs and encompass everything I want. They are just more than I am willing to pay each month, and more than I need at this point. And no, I am not going to name names. (contact me if you must)

After this week, I am going to embrace and be happy with my new software. The one function it has is going to make all the difference in the world to my business, and so I’ll concentrate on that moving forward. Just not now. I have a few minutes of pouting to do.

7 Great Video Marketing Ideas

Developing marketing ideas that will attract prospects and cultivate clients is one part of my business that I love! Over the last couple of years I’ve been talking to everyone about creating videos. There hasn’t been a business yet that couldn’t benefit from creating videos. Hardly a week (or a day) goes by that I am not tempted to click on a video in Facebook and watch. If you haven’t started using videos for marketing your business, you are missing out on a popular tool.

Now, you may be thinking one of these things:

• I don’t know what kind of video to create. (of course that is why you need to continue reading…)
• I don’t have access to good video equipment.
• I hate to be in front of the camera.

Here’s the good news! You don’t need expensive equipment, I’m going to give you a lot of good ideas, and most of them don’t require you being in front of the camera! Most businesses can create a short video – 30 seconds to no more than 2 minutes – using a low-cost video camera. There are lots in the $175 range. I have a Kodak Zi8 that does a great job. Someone you know may have a Flip camera. Easy to do: Power on, shoot video, upload to YouTube, and post.  And honestly, I’m sure a lot of the videos that people create are taken using their smart phone.

Now, you’ve got the camera. Where are the ideas? Here are some of my favorites.

1. Give a tour of your office or location. Let us see what’s going on inside. You might show us the shop where your products are made, or introduce us to your customer support person. If you are a restaurant, how about a peek inside the kitchen. If you are a retail store, show us some of your wares.
2. Interview someone in your office. It’s nice to see and get to know the people you are working with.
3. Interview some of your clients – we’re talking video testimonials. Many would be very happy to oblige. Just ask!
4. Do some before and after videos. This could apply to building a house, style makeovers, personal organizers, or updating a website. Another variation that might fit some clients is explaining how your product works, or applications for your product.
5. FAQ’s are great to create videos for. What do people always ask you? Create a series of videos answering one question in each video.
6. Do regularly scheduled tips. Search for “legal minute” or “marketing tips” or something similar inside YouTube. You will find a lot of people give out tidbits of information in this fashion. If you are a fitness expert, create a video showing the proper way to do each exercise.
7. Do a video blog. This would be just you sitting in front of the camera telling the story or teaching the information in the way that you would have written it down.

Most of those ideas can even keep you off the video if you are not interested in being in them. Find someone else to be in the video if that is an issue. However, there is great power in building relationships if prospects can actually see you. Don’t miss out on that! Another tip is to vary the setting of your videos. One time you might be in your business outfit at your desk. Another time you might be outside on your patio in more casual wear. The viewer is more interested in what they are going to learn from you than what you are wearing or how your hair looks. (Depending on your business, you will have to use good judgement as to how casual you can go. I’m a firm believer in looking presentable at all times…)

Are you using videos yet? Please share some other video ideas in the comments!

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Whoa! Too long since last post. Business has been moving and shaking and I’m sprinting to enjoy every single minute.

Here is a cool thing that happened this week. I was asked to fill in at the 13th hour as the guest for a 30-minute talk show that is filmed on one of the college campuses  in town. It’s called “Coffee Break” and the host promised to send me a copy of the recording. I’ll let you know when I get it. The host wanted to know about my business and we talked a lot about social media. The show is picked up by one of the local cable networks, so if you are lucky enough to get that channel – you might just see me on the curvy couch! The whole thing was a lot of fun (except for the part where I was standing in my closet that morning wondering what someone wears to be a guest on Coffee Break.)

Home Based Business Ribbon Cutting

Walk with me now as I go back a couple of weeks. I am a member of the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce and  recently they had a mass ribbon cutting for home based businesses. Plus they asked all of us set up a little “booth” so that others could mingle around and find out about our services. It was totally fun and I met some great new women business owners. Here is a picture of all of us cutting the big ribbon at once. That’s me in the front in the fuchsia suit. You can’t see it, but one of the ladies has a gigantic pair of scissors that was used to do the cutting. I’ve got a few other pictures posted in Facebook, too. Careful, <—- that one is scary!

There have been so many networking opportunities lately and I am joyfully fitting in as many speaking gigs and new client meetings as possible. The only cloud has been a rock dinging my windshield as I was tearing down the interstate this afternoon on my way to a meeting. Within 20 minutes the crack had spread about 6 inches on each side of the ding! (can you say new windshield?) AND, shortly thereafter the traffic came to a screeching halt and I inched my way only two miles in the next hour. Needless to say, the meeting was postponed.

Spring has solidly settled in here and all the flowering trees are full of delicate white blooms. My daffodils are bowing their yellow heads, and branches are starting to show little green buds. It seems way too early, but I am happy for the warmer weather.

Wishing you a FUN weekend!

A Blog in the Closet

A new blog. There, I’ve said it. It’s what I want for Christmas. This is a nice blog, but there are a lot of other things I want to talk about that aren’t “business” related. So I believe I am going to keep going here, AND start another blog. But my fear is that somebody will laugh at what I have to say, or no one will comment, or any number of other reasons people don’t do things!

When I started my business several years ago someone asked me what my long term goals were for my business. And I quietly answered that one of my goals was to have a blog that a lot of people read every day. I hadn’t thought of that until recently, and I would really like to try and talk about some other things that are going on in my life. My plan is to start writing over “there” and get going and then come back and tell you about it. You won’t mind, will you? In the meantime, I’ll be chatting along right here and it will be just like always.

Here is my plan:

• Finalize the name of the blog and get the right URL.
• Create my blog with the Builder theme from ithemes.
• Start blogging.

I think that’s it. It’s mostly still in the uncongealed stage (like Jello), but I’d really like to get this baby up and going soon. Just wanted to tell you what is going on in my head these days. Now it’s like I’m committed.

Facebook Page Love

I’m doing the happy dance here at the Casa de Kinnaird. Today on my call (Facebook: Nobody ‘Likes’ Me!) I had so many new callers and tons of questions at the end. Those of you who were there *live* – a big thank you! You are the reason I do this. Clearly this was a hot topic as lots of new people signed up in the last 2 or 3 days. Maybe at the end of the year there should be another Facebook call. What would you like me to focus on next time?

For those of you who aren’t on my list (why aren’t you on my list…?) my call focused on the recent changes to Facebook Pages and 5 Ways to get more Facebook Page love. In other words, how to get more fans to ‘like’ you. I actually had 6 main points and about 6 or 8 subpoints for each of those, so all in all, you got your money’s worth for your investment of an hour. If you’d like to hear the replay you can register here. That will give you the links to ALL the past calls and you will be invited to the rest of the monthly calls in 2010.

Another hot topic that people are asking me about is Marketing. In fact, I am creating a series of marketing articles to be published soon, so stay tuned for the links to that. Some of that information will make it onto next month’s call about Marketing Basics: What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You. Some will get to my blog. Once I get started it’s hard to stop me from talking about it. Kind of like Facebook!

Won’t you leave me some more Facebook love and let me know what information you want to hear more about as it relates to Facebook? I appreciate it.

Telling the Truth or TMI?

When is telling the truth just too much information? Over the weekend my husband and I returned from a really nice 10-day vacation. Although it’s been planned for over a year AND we had a laptop with us, I never mentioned it on Facebook (or Twitter, or in a blog post, etc.) It’s one thing that I always caution those in my seminars about. Be careful what you say – when leaving town it always seems to me like I am announcing, “Come burgle me!” So I just did very minimal posting during my vacation – (hello? vacation.)

There are a lot of things we might consider NOT talking about on Facebook or social media outlets. Good judgment should always be used and do like I tell my children: act as if Grandma were reading your posts. I’ll be writing more about that soon. That’s not to say you shouldn’t have SOME personal touch; remember that social media is about the know-like-and trust factor. Letting people get to know you is a key part of it. And that would include vacations, hobbies, pets and kids. But, I am much happier telling you when I return that I’ve been gone, instead of announcing it to my Friends and potentially their Friends before I leave or while I am gone.  We’ve all heard those stories about people who announced they were leaving on Facebook and actually WERE burgled.

Now, you are probably thinking, “Oh boy! Amy is going to post some great pictures or videos from her vacation.” And you would be right to hope that. Unfortunately, I don’t take many pictures but I will have some in an album in Facebook and will post some short videos I took (6-10 seconds long!) at various points. It’s hard to capture the beauty of the mountains, so I only took a few. I’ll leave you with one of the last parting shots from Breckenridge. We go every other summer and enjoy it tremendously. Especially this year when it was about 40 degrees cooler than back at home.

What do you think about posting when you are leaving for vacations? I see everyone doing it, but it still bothers me. Leave me your comments!

Using Videos As Marketing Tools

Last week I had the opportunity to speak to a group of Realtors in California. Mostly the subject was how to use Facebook to market their businesses, but it seems like my conversations always stray to using videos. Any business could create videos that would be helpful in building a relationship with their clients. People love to watch videos, and they help build that Know-Like-Trust factor that I always talk about. When I can SEE you it makes you more real, more authentic. I can relate to you better. And then I might be more inclined to listen to you and ultimately buy something from you. Remember, people buy from people they like.

Here are a few examples of things you could do.

• Video tour of your business. Lots of times people are uncomfortable about just walking in the door. Help them feel more comfortable by showing them what they will see. This works great for a restaurant, church, attorney, or mortgage lender.
• The realtors could walk through the houses that they have listed and point out really neat features
• Video testimonials from happy clients
• Demonstrate your products if applicable. Sometimes a technical explanation is easier if you can show somebody how something works.
• Introduce them to people in your office who they talk to, or who make their products, or who provide the services.
• Create a video of works in process – great for builders, designers, artists
• Instead of writing your blog or tips, create a video occasionally and let your followers watch you tell them the information
• and lots more! During my sessions with clients we really come up with some interesting ideas during brainstorming.

Remember that smiling, happy faces will likely sell more. It’s not important to be fresh from the salon or have on your best duds, although a little comb through the hair wouldn’t hurt! Now put on that thinking cap and come up with some other great ideas. The videos needn’t be more than a minute and a half or two minutes long. Any longer and you will start to lose people.

Share some other good ideas with me in the comments. I need the love!

Social Media Changed Communication in the 21st Century

Deborah Hanchey over at My WP Works recently completed the Virtual Event Specialist program through the VA Classroom and offered to try out her new skills for me. I, of course, chose to talk about my favorite subject: social media.

We cover a lot of ground in 17 minutes, from statistics, to why you need social media, to how to plan your social media activity.

It’s all valuable information, so please take a look. I’d love your feedback!

The New Face of Marketing

This week is so exciting for me – in a stepping outside my comfort zone kind of way. My new 2010 series of free monthly teleseminars starts on Thursday, and I am so thrilled with the prospect of doing this that I’ve kind of got butterflies already! I am meeting a number of great people during this process, and I’ve gotten tons of welcome advice and assistance in putting it all together. Each month I’ll be sharing a lot of information about marketing your business, and often the topic will be related to social media. This link has all the details about the first call.

If you have questions about why you should be marketing with Facebook, I’d love to hear from you! Leave me a comment and I’ll address that on my call this week. Or if you have other marketing questions, let me know those, too.  That might wind up being a great idea for another month’s free call.

Now, back to the Olympics…

Facebook Replaces Email

It’s Sunday night, a great dinner behind me, and here I am back at my desk. A Battlestar Gallactica prequel is on and I am looking at the week ahead of me. There’s a lot on the calendar page. A whole lot. And there’s more to do that isn’t on the calendar yet. Need to write it all down or something will get dropped along the way. Do you ever have weeks like that?

My current system is using the calendar that is built into Outlook. For years I carried a Day Timer (corporate hold over) and then a slim Day at a Glance notebook. When that quit working for me I started putting everything into Outlook. I print the week out each Sunday night and then write in additions or changes as the week progresses. The back is usually filled with notes from a phone call or brainstorm session I had, and gets filed appropriately. What do you use for a calendar?

Funny thing I just noticed. Facebook time doesn’t show up anywhere on my calendar, yet I seem to find myself there way more than I should be. I’ve taken to communicating with some clients and business colleagues via Facebook now instead of email. Do you wonder if Facebook is going to replace email?

I’ve asked lots of questions tonight. I’d love to hear your answers!